Al-Qaida No. 2 killed in U.S. drone strike

Saeed al-Shihri, deputy leader of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula was seen in this undated frame grab from video posted on a militant-leaning Web site, and provided by the SITE Intelligence Group. (AP Photo/SITE Intelligence Group, File)

SANAA, Yemen » The Yemen-based branch of al-Qaida confirmed today that the group's No. 2 figure, a former Guantanamo Bay prisoner, was killed in a U.S. drone strike.

The announcement, posted on militant websites, gave no date for the death of Saudi-born Saeed al-Shihri.

The confirmation was significant, however, because al-Shihri had twice before been reported dead but the terror group later denied those reports.

His killing is considered a major blow to the Yemen-based al-Qaida branch, known as Al-Qaida in The Arabian Peninsula.

Yemeni security officials said al-Shihri died of serious injuries sustained when a drone strike targeted him in November last year.

Al-Shihri had survived an earlier drone attack, in September 2012, the officials added, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to media.

Today's announcement came in a video purporting to show the group's chief theologian, Ibrahim al-Robaish, eulogizing al-Shihri.

In the video, al-Robaish said al-Shihri was hit by the drone while speaking on his mobile telephone in the province of Saadah, north of the Yemeni capital of Sanaa.

The authenticity of the video, which was first reported by the U.S. monitoring service SITE, could not be independently confirmed but it appeared on militant websites commonly used by al-Qaida.

Al-Shihri, also known as Abu Sufyan al-Azdi, fought in Afghanistan and spent six years in Guantanamo. He was returned to Saudi Arabia in late 2007 and later fled to Yemen to join the al-Qaida branch there.

In one of his last videos, which appeared on the Internet in April, al-Shihri harshly criticized Yemen's neighbor to the north, Saudi Arabia, for its policy of allowing the United States to launch deadly drone strikes from bases in the kingdom.

Washington considers the Yemen-based al-Qaida to be the most dangerous offshoot of the terror network after it was linked to several attempted attacks on U.S. targets, including the foiled Christmas Day 2009 bombing of an airliner over Detroit and explosives-laden parcels intercepted the following year aboard cargo flights.

The group made major territorial gains in Yemen last year, following the uprising that forced the country's longtime leader Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down after more than 30 years in power. Al-Qaida militants and their allies seized several towns and cities in the south of the country before they were pushed back in a months-long, U.S.-aided military campaign by government forces last year.

Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, in office since last year, has worked closely with the U.S. in pushing the group back.

An offensive by Yemeni troops backed by U.S. airpower and advisers drove militants out of the southern cities and into mountain hideouts. Airstrikes, believed to be by U.S. drones, have killed a number of key al-Qaida operatives.

Yemen is the most impoverished Arab nation. Its long coastline along the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea gives the nation a strategic commercial and military value. Its proximity to the Horn of Africa gives it the additional closeness to al-Qaida concentrations just across the waters in Africa.

Yemen's weak central authority, its complex tribal system and the remoteness of some of its regions have proven it to be an irresistible destination for al-Qaida militants from across the globe looking for a safer base.

There are no exact figures for the number of al-Qaida militants in Yemen, but they are widely believed to be in the hundreds and backed by a vast network of sympathizers in Yemen and abroad.

In 2011, a high-profile U.S. drone strike killed U.S.-born Anwar al-Awlaki, who had been linked to the planning and execution of several attacks targeting U.S. and Western interests, including the 2009 attempt on the Detroit-bound airliner and the 2010 plot against cargo planes.

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HawaiiCheeseBallwrote:

You ever notice that the photo of these al-Qaida dudes often have them posing with a finger up in the air like they are lecturing someone? I guess that finger in the air has new meaning like "Dude what is that thing up in the air that is coming down on me at a high rate of speed?" I guess another notch in Obama's belt.

on July 17,2013 | 09:54AM

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Pacej001wrote:

Every one of the arrogant *$&s uses that jester. It must be taught in the terrorist school 101 course. What I'd really like to see is the facial expression that goes with the knowledge that a Hellfire, approaching at mach 1, is about 100 meters away.

on July 17,2013 | 05:06PM

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AhiPokewrote:

1 down several billion left to take his place.

on July 17,2013 | 10:04AM

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krushawrote:

I bet nobody wants that job "by choice" ...

on July 17,2013 | 01:57PM

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Hapa_Haole_Boywrote:

Buya!!!

on July 17,2013 | 10:11AM

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loquaciousonewrote:

Okay! Now who is Numba 3.

on July 17,2013 | 10:12AM

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eoewrote:

How many number twos is that now? Seems like that is a dangerous job. Also seems like there is an infinite number of people who want it.

on July 17,2013 | 10:26AM

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cojefwrote:

All want to be No. 2, because we are successful and they want to see the 7 vestal virgins if there is any left. They rape young female children so virgins are hard to come buy.

on July 17,2013 | 12:00PM

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Surfer_Dudewrote:

Who's number one? Let's get him!

on July 17,2013 | 10:45AM

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falsewrote:

So why did they let him go in the first place just to sick a drone on him? Oh well ...!

on July 17,2013 | 02:07PM

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loquaciousonewrote:

Saheed is giving the numba1 sign but he never made it past numba 2

on July 17,2013 | 02:12PM

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Slowwrote:

OK, we took out another bad guy. Good. But this drone thing troubles me. The old "do the ends justify the means" question. Bali had a terrorist bombing killing hundreds a few years ago. If the terrorists had fled to Hawaii would we let the Indonesian military fly killer drones here? Or does Uncle Sam make the rules? If so, Uncle Sam is actively breeding new terrorists.